Happy Back To Normal Day and a 20% off sale

Here I am after the Christmas and New Year break. I'm always happy to get back to my normal routine because I like making beads so much! I enjoy a little break but it goes on for so long ... sitting around all day doing crafty things and reading in a nice warm lounge next to the log burner which has been installed in the newly remodelled fireplace.

All warm and cosy but it's definitely made me soft ...

I went back out into the studio today for the first time in several days, I wrapped up warm as usual but I felt so cold, I only managed to stay out for 3 hours! I came back into the warm and decided to organise a 20% off sale in my SoozBeads Etsy shop. Between now and 8th January, if you buy 2 or more sets of beads, you can claim 20% off everything you purchase by using the checkout coupon code NEWYEAR20.

I've been so quiet the second half of last year on the blogging front. Some of it was family illness that took up a lot of my time flying up and down the A1 two or three times a week. My bead business suffered as a result. Poor DH had another spell of unemployment for a few months too but there were some good things as well. One of which was the new fireplace and woodburner as photographed above.

Another was the bathroom ensuite also finally got finished:

In September, it was my dad's 90th birthday. All kinds of things arranged around that, we had parties galore and even a film premiere. My youngest sister and her long term partner and film maker, Martin made a documentary "Finding the Pathfinders" about my dad's time in the Lancaster Pathfinder squadron.

The story centres around his search for the other members of his crew. We had a premiere at the Kinema in the Woods and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight did a fly past in the City of Lincoln Lancaster which was an amazing experience. When they know a veteran is in the audience, they really put on a good show; an amazing experience! 

Here's the trailer for the film: 

Our house is situated in the old part of the village in the centre and we're on the main drag through so many people pass by our house on their way to the Post Office, Co-Op, the school or GP surgery. These chrysanthemums were abandoned by the previous owner. When we moved in during February, they were dead sticks and had no protection over quite a hard winter. I cut them back and did what I could to coax them back into life. People in the village followed their progress with great interest, every time I went out with the watering can, someone stopped to talk to me about them! My reward came in October. :-)